Beast of Burden
by Aubrie1234
Summary: A simple mission gone wrong results in the return of an ancient criminal, and Gaomon believes it was all his fault. What happened, and why does Gaomon blame himself? Thomas also has to fight his own demons and try to keep them away from his friends, but even he can't keep up the mask forever.
1. Chapter 1

Beast of Burden

By: Aubrie1234

* * *

 **Dear Readers, another story of mine. I'm also going to write it in a way I haven't really done before. The first chapter is going to be near the end of the story, and the other chapters are going to tell what happened to lead up to that. I did something like that once in one of my other stories, but this time I'm going all the way into it. Wish me luck!**

* * *

Everyone that had come with me was knocked out. Even Marcus was out cold. I was the only one left awake, and what I saw wasn't what I ever wished to see. Trees were down all around me, fires were burning out of control, and no one was coming to help. I knew that because of one simple thing.

All of this was my fault.

A large foot hit me in the side, forcing the breath out of me, but I glared back up at my attacker. It was a grinning, red-eyed, blonde werewolf, also known as the legendary criminal, Weremon.

And he used to be Thomas.

"I thought that the famous Gaomon was supposed to put up a big fight. But this? This is pathetic!" Weremon laughed.

"I'm not giving up!" I growled. Everyone had been fighting him before, but he easily knocked them out, and I was the only one left awake, even with my injuries. He was going to kill everyone one once I was defeated, and then I would never see Thomas again.

"You have nothing to fight for!" Weremon said, pointing at me, "All of your friends are knocked out and that pup of a partner you had is gone! Just give it up."

"No!" I roared, feeling tears in my eyes, "I will keep fighting! For my friends, for Thomas, and for this world! There is _always_ something to fight for!" A shocking pain hit my cheek and when I looked back at him, Weremon was glaring at me with one paw in the air. He had slapped me.

"You don't get it, do you?" he growled, "Your partner is gone. I wore him down until he couldn't fight me anymore. And none of you would dare to fight me because you all uselessly believed he was still here. He is gone for good. Accept that." I shook my head.

"No. I will never accept that. I know Thomas is still in there, is still fighting you. Just wearing him down wouldn't defeat him. He would never give up, and neither will I!" I punched Weremon in the gut, knocking the breath out of him, and scrambled to my feet. Never giving up is a lesson both Thomas and I learned from Marcus after fighting so long with him. And I was going to put that determination to good use by believing that there was a way to get Thomas back, and to fight Weremon down to my last breath.

That's something I know Thomas would be proud of me for. He would also be proud of me for being the only one to willingly fight him. The others, when they fought him, held back, afraid to hurt him, even Marcus and Agumon. But, Thomas knew that if push came to shove and someone had to fight him, I would fight him as hard as I could, even if he was my friend. That was something special about our friendship. We would do whatever we could to help the other, even hurting them if needed.

" _Virus Claw!_ " I dodged Weremon's glowing black claws and used one of the fallen trees as a springboard to attack him.

" _Rolling Upper!_ " I hit Weremon square in the jaw, sending him back. However, he grinned.

"Is that the best you can do?" I growled at his comment and raised my gloved fists, ready to attack again. He then made a side kick at me, and I jumped back, but I was caught by the swinging tail and thrown to the ground. I struggled to get up, but he yanked me into the air by the fur on the back of my neck.

"Remember what your partner said before I got rid of him? Only that Golden MirageGaogamon Burst Mode beat me. You can digivolve to that form, but not without your partner. You're weak, like a newborn puppy." He threw my away and my back hit a still-standing tree, stunning me. As I tried to get my bearings, Weremon came over and grabbed my throat.

"Say goodbye, weakling." he then started to crush my throat in his paw. I struggled to breathe, but darkness clouded the edges of my vision. I had one last thought before I blacked out, and it was that I had failed everyone, especially Thomas.


	2. Chapter 2

Beast of Burden

By: Aubrie1234

* * *

 _ **A Few Weeks Ago:**_

"Team, there have been reports of a rogue BlackWereGarurumon attacking other digimon in the Digital World. I want you all to go there and subdue it." Sampson said. I was at Thomas' side, as usual, but this report seemed strange to me. I know that we've been taking on jobs in the Digital World, but why would an Ultimate attack other digimon out of nowhere like that? Thomas seemed to share my thoughts when I saw the look on his face, but Marcus and Agumon were raring to go, as usual.

"Don't worry, sir! We've got this, right Agumon?"

"Of course, Boss!"

"We're preparing the transfer now, Commander." Miki said, typing away with the PawnChessmon and Megumi. As they did, Yoshi brought up what Thomas and I were thinking.

"Commander, it doesn't seem right that an Ultimate is just attacking out of nowhere. I don't like this." she said.

"Yes, it is strange," Kudamon agreed, "But we must do our job first and stop the digimon before something else happens."

"Yes sir." Keenan said; his speech had improved after a while of staying with us and some lessons from Thomas.

"The transfer is ready, sir!" Megumi said.

"Have a safe trip, all of you." Sampson said, "And be careful, especially you, Marcus."

* * *

It didn't take us long, and we appeared in a large forest, similar to the one where we met Keenan.

"To be safe, we should stick together." Thomas said.

"C'mon, Nerd-stein!" Marcus complained, "All of us can digivolve to Burst Mode! What's there to worry about?"

"Plenty." Thomas argued, "If the digimon didn't digivolve fast enough, the BlackWereGarurumon could attack us. Digivolving the digimon gives us a window of vulnerability."

"Oh, you worry too much! Lighten up a little!" Marcus tried to give Thomas a noogie, which he dodged.

"Marcus, Thomas, stop." Yoshi got between the two of them, "Look, Thomas is right. This digimon is more dangerous than we think. Why would it just attack other digimon out of nowhere like it has? We need to stick together so we don't get hurt or even _killed_. Do you understand?" Both boys nodded, the seriousness of the situation showing on their faces. I suddenly got the feeling that a digimon was nearby, and Lalamon voiced the feeling.

"I sense a digimon in this direction." she said, pointing, "Maybe we should start there."

"And if it _is_ BlackWereGarurumon, we should be on our highest guard." Falcomon said. We all nodded before starting off in that direction. It didn't take us long to reach an open field, where I could sense the digimon much stronger, but there were no digimon in sight. I looked around, my guard up.

"You sure there's a digimon nearby?" Marcus asked, looking around as well.

"Yes!" Falcomon answered, tense as I was.

"We should digivolve the digimon now, so that we don't have to later." Keenan said. I had to admit that it was a good idea, though Marcus wouldn't be able to digivolve Agumon until he punched a digimon. The others reached for their digivices, when suddenly-

" _Full Moon Kick_!" I grabbed Thomas' hand and pulled him out of the way of the attack, which barely missed the group and set us flying all over the place. I hopped to my feet and looked around once I was able to do so and saw the other digimon scrambling to their feet as well, with the humans sitting up and trying to figure out what happened. The attack had obviously come from the forest and a digimon of the WereGarurumon type, since those were the only ones able to use that attack, which meant that the BlackWereGarurumon had probably attacked us.

"What-?! Oh no." I heard Thomas say behind me. When I looked at him, I saw him holding the broken ends of the digivices leather cord, but the digivice was gone. It must have been ripped or cut off the cord somehow during the attack. I looked around and saw three of the four digivices on the ground, away from their owners, except Marcus'; it was probably a good thing he still had his, because we obviously wouldn't be able to digivolve without the digivices. After our fight against King Drasil, we weren't able to digivolve on our own anymore; it was just that one time, which meant that we had to go back and rely on our partners for help in digivolving us.

The BlackWereGarurumon then came out of the forest, growling at us, but something was off. I didn't know what it was, but I did know that this BlackWereGarurumon was different, and more dangerous than we thought. It looked at us and grinned before rushing and attacking.

" _Shadow Claw_!" I was hit by the attack and thrown father away, hurt badly. I struggled to stand through my pain and saw that Falcomon had also been hit by the attack, and Lalamon and Agumon had been hit by BlackWereGarurumon's Garuru Kick. That left our partners defenseless, even if Marcus, Thomas, and Keenan knew how to defend themselves. This just got a _lot_ worse.

* * *

 **Thomas' POV:**

When Gaomon and the others had been thrown away like dolls, I had frozen for a few seconds, letting fear overcome me. Would I survive this fight? Would any of us? The digimon had been hurt badly in just one hit. Without our digivices, we had no hope to win this. I did manage to overcome my fear, though, and try to figure out how Keenan, Yoshi, and I could reach our digivices without BlackWereGarurumon attacking us, which would be nearly impossible. The only way we could do it was if there was a distraction, and Marcus was the only one who still had his digivice, even if he couldn't digivolve Agumon. However, I wasn't about to let that stubborn teen sacrifice himself for us, even if he suggested it. But, when I looked at them, I could see that they were just as afraid as I was, even Marcus. That made me question again the possibility of surviving, which was quite low. How could we survive this fight without the digimon, especially if we couldn't digivolve them?

"The famous Digimon Police, here to defeat me, but you're all little more than newborn pups. How can you hope to even compete with me if you can't even digivolve?" I glared at the BlackWereGarurumon; we could digivolve, but I had been right in saying that we were vulnerable without digivolving, and even then we were vulnerable while the digimon digivolved.

"They can digivolve fine!" Marcus' temper had flared up, and this might just have been the distraction we needed, "You just attacked us before they could digivolve!"

"Oh really? Well, if you ask me, you're the weakest of the group, Mr. Damon. You're supposed to be the strongest, but how can you be strong if you need to hit another digimon to get the DNA Charge you need to digivolve?" Marcus tensed and looked away; it seemed even _he_ had second thoughts about himself.

"Boss _is_ strong! He doesn't need to digivolve me whenever he needs to! His punches make up for that!" Agumon voiced, standing up for his partner, even if he literally couldn't stand right now, "Boss was the first to digivolve me to Ultimate and Burst-Mode before anyone else, and he even got me to do Burst-Mode as a Rookie! Boss is special, even if he has his own flaws!"

"What a noble speech, but it still doesn't change my mind." the BlackWereGarurumon drawled, "Mr. Damon may be the strongest human fighter in Japan, but he isn't strong in the Digital World. The Digital World is harsh, cruel, unforgiving; it's a fight for survival every second. Humans don't belong here because they're pampered, they don't fight for themselves."

"What did you say?!" Now Marcus was standing and was ready to fight BlackWereGarurumon for insulting him; the digimon didn't just insult him, it insulted all of us, but I couldn't dwell on that right now. As they distracted the digimon, I leapt for the digivices.

"Look out!" Keenan's cry came too late as I was suddenly stopped short by a great pain in my arm and something pinning me to the ground, making me close my eyes in pain. I managed to open them through the pain to see BlackWereGarurumon, having clamped onto my left arm with its jaws and pinning me to the ground with one paw, still grinning; but, now that it was closer, I could see how blank its eyes were, instead of the usual brightness. This worried me, but I noted to think about it later, when I _wasn't_ in a life-or-death situation.

"Nice try, but nothing gets past me." it growled, though muffled because of my arm, before clamping harder. I hissed in pain, but stretched my free arm to grab one of the digivices, which was Yoshi's, and threw it to her. She understood immediately and had Lalamon double-warp digivolve to Rosemon.

"Then what about that?" I shot back after seeing its outraged face. In response, it used a Shadow Claw on my chest, nearly making me black out in pain.

"THOMAS!" Now the others were really mad, and I hated to see what Rosemon would do to the BlackWereGarurumon. However, they couldn't make a move as long as the digimon had me in its grip. I blinked through the pain and focused of the digimon's face, trying to think of what to do, but I couldn't; it was hard enough focusing through the pain. Relying on instinct, I raised my leg up and kicked at the digimon as hard as I could. I managed to get him off, but not without him tearing some skin out of my arm with his teeth, which hurt even worse and made me black out.

* * *

 **Gaomon's POV:**

Thomas managed to get the digimon off of him, but I think it hurt him so much that he blacked out, because he wasn't moving. Rosemon used her thorn whip to pull the BlackWereGarurumon away as Marcus, Agumon, and I ran to Thomas. Quickly taking off his jacket, Marcus wrapped it around Thomas' arm while Agumon cut off Thomas' jacket with his claws and used it to try and stop the bleeding from the wound on Thomas' chest. Seeing how badly he was hurt, I could see why they had done what they did; I hadn't noticed it before, but when BlackWereGarurumon had been kicked away, he had ripped some of Thomas' skin with him, and the wound to his chest looked just as bad. Suddenly, Marcus handed me his communicator.

"Call the Commander." was all he said, but I knew what he meant. Quickly, I pressed the button, waiting anxiously for the Commander's voice; I hated not being able to do anything else to help Thomas, but Agumon and Marcus were doing the important stuff right now.

"Hello? Marcus?" The com was answered and I quickly went into an explanation.

"Commander, it's Gaomon." I said, "We found the digimon, but it got to us before we could digivolve and it badly hurt Thomas." Looking over, I saw the Rosemon had just finished defeating BlackWereGarurumon and was giving Keenan his digivice while Yoshi and Falcomon rushed over, "And Rosemon just defeated the digimon."

"We understand." Kudamon's voice came in, and it was serious but worried, "We'll call you, Thomas, and Marcus in first. How badly is he hurt?" I looked back at Thomas and swallowed the sick feeling I had.

"Very badly to his chest and left arm. BlackWereGarurumon accidentally tore out some skin from his arm, too, but Marcus and Agumon are using jackets to stop the blood flow. Will we have to take him to a hospital?"

"I don't know." Kudamon said, "Just have hope that it isn't as bad as it looks, Gaomon. You're also about to be transported."

"Thank you, sir." I hung up on them and handed the com back to Marcus.

"You and I are going with Thomas first." I told him, and he nodded.

"Okay. And Gaomon?" he gently laid a hand on my shoulder, "Thomas is strong. I'm sure he'll make it through this."

"Yes, he will." I sighed, though not convinced. I wasn't able to protect my partner; how can I forgive myself for that?

* * *

Thankfully, Kudamon was right. It wasn't as bad as it looked, but Thomas still had to stay at D.A.T.S. until he woke up. I stayed by his side, hoping he would wake up, and almost never left. Everyone was worried about me, I was sure, and they always tried to get me to leave, walk around, at least use the bathroom once in a while, but I never did. All of them tried, except Marcus; I'm positive that he knew how I felt because of his experience when Agumon was turned into a DigiEgg.

It had been around 8 in the morning when we had left for the Digital World, and now it was almost six. I was in a chair beside Thomas, watching over him, when Marcus came in. Agumon was no where to be found.

"Hey." he said, bringing up a chair on the other side of Thomas. I only nodded.

"Look, Gaomon, I know you're worried." he sighed, "But if you just sit around like this and do nothing, you won't get much done. Have some faith in Thomas and let someone else look after him for a while."

"But what if he never wakes up?" I asked somberly.

"Gaomon, stop blaming yourself." Marcus said, "Trust me when I say it'll only make things worse. When Agumon was turned into a DigiEgg, I worried so much about him and blamed myself because I knew _I_ was the one that caused it. Because I did nothing and never left, the DigiEgg didn't do anything. Only when I forgot my worries and went out to stop Kurata and Belphemon did Agumon hatch. So, please go out somewhere and have faith in Thomas; have faith that he'll wake up and everything will be normal again." It was rare Marcus talked about his feelings, if ever, so I knew he was serious.

"All right." I sighed, standing, "But could you please take my place?" Marcus nodded, and I finally left.


	3. Chapter 3

Beast of Burden

By: Aubrie1234

* * *

 **Thomas' POV:**

Slowly, I became aware of my surroundings and of myself. My arm that had been attacked hurt greatly, but I didn't feel like I was in the Digital World anymore. I felt cloth underneath and blankets covering me, where I guessed I was in a bed of some sort. Slowly, so as to not cause a headache and adjust to the light, I opened my eyes. I found myself in one of D.A.T.S.' medical rooms, and Marcus was sitting in a chair beside the bed, grinning at me. He must have seen me wake up.

"Nice to see you awake." he said, "You just missed Gaomon." It made sense; Gaomon would have certainly stayed with me as much as he could have. I wondered how Marcus managed to make him leave, if only for a little while.

"How long have I been out?" I changed the subject.

"For a while." Marcus responded, "You were out for nearly a day. It's already 6 o'clock." My eyes widened; I had been unconscious for that long?

"By the way, when we brought you back for treatment, we thought we might have to take you to the hospital, you were in such bad condition." he continued on, dropping the smile, "Everyone was worried about you, Thomas, especially Gaomon. We couldn't get him to leave your side until I managed to convince him to leave me with you. The girls were all worried about your injuries, Sampson and Kudamon were worried about you and are now trying to find out why that digimon was attacking others, Keenan and the other digimon were worried about when you would wake up so they could check on you, and as for me... Well, I knew you would pull through this fine, but that was a stupid mistake back there." Marcus glared at me, "You probably had a strategy, but BlackWereGarurumon was just too close and too fast; if he had decided to do worse to you..." He shook his head. Marcus cared about everyone equally, but to show this much feeling for me was a bit of a feat.

"But if you tell anyone else about this little talk, I'll show you who's the boss around here!" Marcus huffed and I smiled; for a tough guy he could be a real softie sometimes, especially to his little sister, I knew. I looked down at my arm to see it bandaged up greatly, as well as my chest, though it didn't seem to hurt at all, compared to my throbbing arm. I sat up with one hand before laying that hand on my injured arm, and Marcus seemed to understand the gesture. He knew I wanted to see my partner, I guessed, so he stood.

"I'll leave you alone for a while, okay?" he said. When I nodded, he smiled and left. As I waited, I thought back to the BlackWereGarurumon. Something wasn't right. It's eyes had been blank, as if it had been possessed. If so, then who would want revenge on us? There were plenty, I knew, but wouldn't they have used a strong digimon against us? To me, it made no sense. I wish it did.

* * *

After hearing of my recovery, the team practically swarmed me, Gaomon staying in my lap at all times. When I looked down and saw his smile, I smiled back, but I knew. Marcus had the same problem, and I could see it in Gaomon's eyes. I wanted to reassure him, but I knew it would do no good. Somehow, he had to reassure himself that it hadn't been his fault, that I was okay and would stay that way.

Shortly after the greetings, the Commander said that I was well enough to go home and rest, and that Gaomon and I should take some off time until I was fully healed. Of course, I wanted to protest, but Gaomon fully agreed. My partner continued to keep an eye on me the whole time, from D.A.T.S. to our house and everything in between. He was truly worried about me, wasn't he?

Once night had fallen, I read as Gaomon went to his own little bed, in the same room as mine. I could feel his eyes on me the whole time, until he finally fell asleep. Once he did so, I closed my book and turned the light out. I sat in the darkness for a moment, watching as the moonlight flooded in. Tomorrow was the first night of the full moon, and it always looked beautiful. I don't know why, but I've always had a strange fascination with the rocky orb in the sky. It seemed to increase when I got Gaomon, and I supposed it was because he was a wolf-like digimon and wolves were symbiotic with the moon. My attention was drawn away, however, when my arm began to throb.

I kept silent, but it was hard to when the hurting increased. The throbbing soon turned into a searing pain throughout my arm and I held it out of instinct, but I knew something was wrong. The medicine was supposed to make me feel better, not hurt me worse, so what was going on? After a while, the pain faded away and I looked down at my arm. I was shocked and almost gasped at the sight. It was covered in thick, coarse fur, the same color as my hair, with bigger muscles and claws instead of fingernails. The bandages were still holding, though, so that was a bit of a relief.

"Strange, isn't it?" I heard a voice say, out of nowhere and all around me. I whipped my head around, but saw no one in my room. What was going on?

"Well, little pup, what's going on is something so big, it's unstoppable." the voice said, answering my thoughts. I opened my mouth to say something, but, out of nowhere, a black paw covered my mouth, and my eyes widened as a large black, wolf-like shadow with glowing red eyes appeared in front of me. I felt like I wanted to shout in surprise, but my voice was muffled by the paw.

"Even if you shouted for someone, all they would see is you, seemingly having gone crazy, little pup." the shadow said before taking its paw off my mouth.

"Then what are you? _Who_ are you?" I whispered my thoughts.

"My name is Weremon. I'm a digimon, but also not a digimon." it said cryptically, "My programming is what helps certain digimon digivolve to certain forms, such as Garurumon to WereGarurumon and BlackGarurumon to BlackWereGarurumon. I used to be a digimon, until I was defeated my a certain Burst-Mode a very long time ago. Back then, there were no were-digimon, like WereGarurumon, and I was a famous criminal, until I was defeated. After that, I was locked away while my programming was scattered about, used to caused the were-digivolutions, until one special day, where a certain BlackWereGarurumon uncovered my main body. I controlled him until I was able to lure you humans here, so I could have a body again." I put the pieces together and was shocked at what I had learned.

"You're a parasite, but you can't use regular digimon to get back to your original form." I said, feeling a bit of dread at something else I had pieced together but hadn't voiced.

"Almost, pup; you were close, though. I am a parasite now, if that's what you would like to call me, but I can't use any digimon to become my original form again because, even if they are also virus types, their bodies will reject me, and I couldn't do anything about it because I was so weak. However, after hearing of the special humans who partnered with digimon, I decided to use one of them to become a digimon again, and you were the lucky winner. My data was transferred from the digimon through the bite, like those little werewolf stories, so-"

"You're inside me." I spoke, feeling even greater dread now that I had voiced it. He nodded, a grin spreading across his snout.

"Yes, that's right. And, since I need you to help me get my body back, over time you are going to become more of a werewolf, not just your arm, and I will also grow stronger and gain more control over you, little pup. Once that time comes, I suggest you give yourself up to me and I will kill your friends." My dread instantly turned to rage at those words.

"I won't let you hurt them!" I growled softly, so as to not wake Gaomon. Weremon leaned close to me and grinned wider, showing his sharp teeth.

"Try me. And also, if you tell anyone of this, I will make sure that _they_ will be the first to be killed; and, before I forget, as the werewolf virus spreads, you will change into a werewolf more and more each night, losing control each time until you change back, and the werewolf isn't as kind as I am. Remember that." In seconds, he was gone, and the searing pain returned to my arm. This time, I watched as it transformed back, and I felt worse than I ever had, even more than when I had betrayed the others.

 _If I can't tell anyone, then the others will have bad feelings about me again once they find out, if I don't kill them first._ I thought, then felt something wet on my cheek. Reaching up, I felt it and noticed that I was crying. I stopped the tears, but knew they were necessary. Emotions were the only things that could help me through this dark time, if I couldn't tell anyone. My life had just gone downhill in a matter of hours, and no one could know. I should at least take some precautions, so I wouldn't hurt anyone. No matter what Weremon said, I wasn't about to hurt my friends. I laid back onto the bed, unable to close my eyes. It was going to be a _long_ night...


End file.
